‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: The Sequel ‘The Testaments’ to Be Created by Hulu, MGM

Praise be. Fans of The Handmaid’s Tale are getting excited because Margaret Atwood’s new novel, The Testaments, which is a follow-up to the story of Offred, will be out on shelves on September 10. In other handmaid news, both Hulu and MGM will develop the new novel for television screens, to the delight of fans who can’t get enough of Margaret Atwood’s world. Spoilers are ahead so read on only if you are caught up with the novel and series.

‘The Testaments’ is coming to screens soon

Margaret Atwood | Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hulu and MGM are
talking with showrunner Bruce Miller about the details surrounding how
this new story can become “an important extension” to The Handmaid’s Tale
series made popular by the lovely Elisabeth Moss on Hulu.

The story picks up 15 years after the cliffhanger ending in the first novel

The new novel, The Testaments, will pick up the story of Offred 15 years after the cliffhanger ending that book fans will remember. Offred was taken into a van and escorted to her fate. Fans never knew what happened to Offred, but apparently her story will go on. The new story will be told through the voices of others and not Offred herself.

‘The Testaments’ will be told by three different women

Elisabeth Moss | Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Hulu

Atwood spoke in the Time magazine cover story and revealed new details about the upcoming novel. Offred will not be the one telling the story. Rather, it will be told by three women: a young woman raised in Gilead, a Canadian teenager, and Aunt Lydia. Yes, you read that right, Aunt Lydia will be a voice in the upcoming story. She is a villain in both the novel and the series, so this is surprising news for fans. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out in a screen adaptation. Ann Dowd plays Aunt Lydia in The Handmaid’s Tale and fans saw her origin story before Gilead last season.

“They can’t keep Offred in Gilead for many more seasons, or a certain amount of wheel spinning will be going on,” Atwood explained. “They have to move her along — and I’ve given them lots of ways of how that would happen.”

‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ season 4 is already in the works

The upcoming season of The Handmaid’s Tale has already been given the greenlight, which isn’t surprising considering the series is immensely popular with audiences. Fans still have so many questions about what’s to come. The finale for season 3 left fans on the edge of their seats as June created a diversion and helped rescue children from the clutches of Gilead. Although she was successful, she herself didn’t get away. She was able to see the airplane takeoff and get the children to safety as her fellow handmaids carried her on a makeshift stretcher. The future remains uncertain for June and the handmaids who helped make it all happen.

What’s to come in season 4?

Showrunner Bruce Miller spoke with Entertainment Weekly
about what’s to come in season 4. Without giving too much away, he did manage
to say that June’s story isn’t over and fans will continue to see and process
her journey.

“The short answer to your question, and I don’t think this
is spoilery, is we follow June. It’s June’s story,” explained
Miller. “Where we’re going is where June is going. The example of that in
the finale is we find out the plane left because she was laying on the ground,
having been shot, when it flies over her head. We don’t show all those kids get
in the plane. We don’t show them taxiing, worrying about radar. We see what
June sees. Moving ahead, that really is our mandate, and it also keeps us
tethered to Margaret Atwood’s book and world. June was the point of view she
chose. As long as we stay to that, we’re seeing Gilead through Margaret’s eyes.”

It’s exciting to know that the world of Margaret Atwood is
growing. It will be interesting to see how the stories of The Handmaid’s
Tale and The Testaments intertwine.